Fresh Fig Cornbread
fiveandspice
- Serves
- 1, 9-inch round cornbread
I love cornbread for breakfast. A little sweet, tender, toothy, and nubbly. I think it's just perfect with a cup of coffee. Add fresh fruit and you've really got yourself a morning treat. I found some beautiful fresh figs at our market the day I was baking cornbread, and I couldn't resist halving them and dotting my bread with them. Cornbread is, of course, the very tastiest fresh out of the oven, but this one keeps quite well if you wrap it, and it toasts up nicely. I like it plain, but it's also really, really good with a scoop of ricotta.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, just softened, and cut into chunks (plus extra for greasing the pan)
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup coarse yellow cornmeal
- 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cup milk or buttermilk (I prefer the flavor from buttermilk)
- 8 ounce fresh figs, stemmed and halved
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Directions
- Step 1
Heat your oven to 375F. Grease a 9-inch cast iron skillet or another heavy baking pan with butter.
- Step 2
In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the cornmeal.
- Step 3
In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and soda, and salt. Mixing on low speed, add the dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with the milk/buttermilk, and starting and ending with the dry ingredients.
- Step 4
Scrape the batter into the greased pan, then arrange the halved figs on top. Bake until the cornbread is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 40-50 minutes.
- Step 5
Serve warm, with spoonfuls of ricotta, if desired. The cornbread keeps, tightly covered, for several days. Just lightly toast slices in a toaster oven before serving and you’re good to go.